What the Blogging Gurus Don’t Tell You

Just kidding. I haven’t written that post yet. Mostly because it would be really, really boring. The only thing I can think of that would be more boring would be being forced to read this awful piece of sh literature in one sitting. I know this, because I once had to do that. I don’t remember much about it, except that it was the biggest piece of crap I was ever assigned to read in school.

No benefit to my life whatsoever.

I’ve been running this site, in some variation or another, for a long time now. Every year or so, I end up losing a LOT of information…but I’ve been (very) slowly adding content back to the site.

And sometimes I tweak the themes a bit, too.

I’ve learned a ton of great information since the beginning of my blogging life. I know how to write content that’s more realistic to who I am, I can get pages ranked FAST, and I can even run ad campaigns. But there are a few things that I didn’t learn from other bloggers.

What the Pros Don’t Tell You

Yes…I know that some of them will actually tell you this stuff…but overall, most of the big bloggers just tend to sell you the dream.

“You really can get rich blogging!”

“You want to live this lifestyle? Start a blog!”

“My formula will help you get rich! Buy it here!”

Sure. Some of these things are possible…but most people won’t see the results that the gurus are touting for many reasons. People start blogs with big dreams…but then reality hits like a ton of bricks.

Blogging is Hard Work

Surprise. You’ll have to make business decisions about purchasing, project management, marketing, content creation, and a whole bunch of other stuff that will look great on a resume (you should totally have it on your resume, btw).

It’s time consuming, takes money (unless you’re as cheap as I am), and when something breaks…you’ll want to die. Not even kidding. It’s like getting a new puppy for Christmas and watching it get run over by a street sweeper. You’ve got to be the one who cleans up the mess, too, so it’s going to suck a LOT. Especially if you don’t have backups.

You are backing up your content, right?

Despite the huge number of really awesome plug-ins for blogs, it’s still a lot of work making everything just…work.

Blogging is Time Consuming

Running a business takes time. And if you’re already working full time (or more), you’ll have to find a place to fit in running your blog. Some people get up at ungodly early hours in the morning just to write content. Either that or they stay up until ungodly hours at night submitting links to social networking sites…only to have to get up at ungodly early hours in the morning to go work for someone else.

If You Don’t Want It Bad, It’ll Suck

Blogging is one of those jobs where you can’t really explain why you want to do it to a school guidance counselor. You just do. Nobody really plans to go to school for years to become a blogger. They just sort of fall into it.

It’s like a relationship.

You may really get wrapped up in the initial phase (OMG I’M GONNA MAKE SOOOO MUCH MONEY), and then after a while you’ll get bored trying to fix the problems that were there all along that you didn’t notice, so you’ll start spending more time on Facebook, watching TV, or just sneaking around with your friends. Your blog won’t be happy. And it won’t end well.